【正确答案】：
ANTONYMS CAN BE DEFINED AS WORDS WHICH ARE OPPOSITE IN MEANING. THEY CAN BE CLASSIFIED INTO THREE MAJOR GROUPS.
（1）CONTRADICTORY TERMS: THEY ARE SO OPPOSED TO EACH OTHER THAT THEY ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE AND ADMIT NO POSSIBILITY BETWEEN THEM, SUCH AS DEAD—ALIVE”.
（2）CONTRARY TERMS: ANTONYMS OF THIS TYPE ARE BEST VIEWED IN TERMS OF A SCALE RUNNING BETWEEN TWO POLES OR EXTREMES. ANTONYMS SUCH AS YOUNG — OLD REPRESENT TWO POINTS AT BOTH ENDS OF THE POLE AND CAN ACCOMMODATE A MIDDLE GROUND BELONGING NEITHER TO ONE POLE NOR TO THE OTHER. WE CAN HAVE MIDDLE-AGED BETWEEN THE YOUNG AND THE OLD.
（3）RELATIVE TERMS: THIS TYPE CONSISTS OF RELATIONAL OPPOSITES SUCH AS "EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE”.SUCH PAIRS OF WORDS INDICATE SUCH A RECIPROCAL SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP THAT ONE OF THEM CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT SUGGESTING THE OTHER. IF A IS AN EMPLOYER OF B, THEN B IS AN EMPLOYEE, WHO WORKS FOR A.
【题目解析】：（1）矛盾反义词：它们彼此对立，相互排斥，彼此之间不承认任何可能性。如死-活”。（2）对立反义词：这种反义词最好从两极或极端之间的刻度来观察。反义词，如”年幼的-老的”表示极点两端的两点，可以容纳既不属于一个极点也不属于另一个极点的中间地带。可以在年轻人和老年人之间有中年人。（3）关系反义词：这类词由“雇主-雇员”等关系对立词组成，这两个词表示一种相互的社会关系，一种词不暗示另一种词就不能使用。如果A是B的雇主，那么B是为A工作的雇员。